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One day last November, Julia Chuñil summoned her dog, Cholito, and they set off into the woods around her home to search for lost livestock. The cattle came back but Julia, then aged 72, and Cholito did not.

More than a hundred individuals participated with her family in a search that continued for multiple weeks in the steep, wet and densely overgrown terrain of Chile’s ancient Valdivian woodland. A month later, they monitored vultures for any disturbing clues. However, they found no trace of Chuñil.

Julia Chuñil is one of one hundred forty-six land and environmental defenders who were killed or went missing around the world in the previous year, according to a study by the campaign group the monitoring entity. About a third of these cases, similar to Chuñil, were from Indigenous communities – a heavy toll for peoples who collectively constitute only 6% of the world’s inhabitants.

The activist, a prominent figure of the Mapuche Indigenous community in Chile, was living on contested territory. Ten years ago she had settled in Reserva Cora, a 2,200-acre portion of the ancient Valdivian ecosystem 800 kilometers below the capital, which her community claimed as an ancestral homeland.

For many years she advocating to secure land rights over the location for her community. However, the legal proprietor of the land, the heir of colonizers, declined to relinquish ownership. His intention was the area for logging – Chile is a major exporter of lumber to the US – and he wanted rid of Chuñil. Prior to her disappearance, Julia told supporters: “If anything happens to me, it will be clear who did it.”

Global Reporting on Attacks Against Activists

The organization began recording cases of deaths and vanishing acts of land and environmental defenders in 2012. Since then, it has gathered a total of 2,253 instances. For the past decade, the riskiest place has been Central and South America. Last year it represented eighty-two percent of reported incidents, which involved forty-five native individuals.

“Land conflict lies at the core of aggression against defenders, and Indigenous peoples are paying the highest price,” said a senior policy adviser at Global Witness. “Communities with historical ties to territory often form the frontline of opposition when their territories are endangered from exploitation and invasion. However, regardless of their critical function, they are often refused acknowledgment and justice, and subjected to serious risk for protecting their legitimate lands.”

Nation-Specific Statistics and Unrecorded Cases

Julia’s was the sole incident documented in her nation last year, even though it matched a pattern of the singling out of Mapuche activists in the country. The nation of Colombia reported forty-eight cases, making it the deadliest nation overall for environmental defenders, followed by Guatemala with 20 cases, the most dangerous nation per capita. Mexico had nineteen incidents, putting it in number three overall.

Under-reporting continues to be a problem, especially in the Asian continent and the African region, which recorded 16 and nine instances each, the monitor said. Overall, last year the lowest number of cases of killings and disappearances of land activists were documented in ten years.

The lead researcher, who led the investigation for the organization, commented: “I would also like to be able to tell you that this suggests a decrease in violence and an enhancement in the situation for activists, but unfortunately that’s not true. Human rights defenders confront situations of violence that go far beyond murder. Often, aggression is evolve, become more sophisticated, alter its appearance.”

Ongoing Struggle for Accountability

Julia’s relatives have continued to pursue justice but their advocacy has exposed them to intimidation and harassment, as well. In April, two animals from Chuñil’s home that they had planned to auction to finance legal costs were discovered dead, one shot and another by toxins. “This is primarily, a intentional effort to prevent us from fighting this case,” her son Pablo San Martín informed the watchdog.

Their analysis urges governments to act to end the lack of punishment of the perpetrators of environmental defenders by tackling the lack of rights defenders have over land and territory, reinforcing weak domestic judiciary frameworks, and guaranteeing endangered advocates are given sufficient state protection.

“All we are asking for is a full, fair investigation to take place,” San Martín remarked of his mother’s situation. “Nearly twelve months have passed since she vanished and we’re remain unaware about the events. We want those behind this to be discovered and charged.”